K8400 prints objects like the tower of pisa

Hello,
in our school, we have build the Vertex K8400 printer. Now we have the problem that every new layer of the printed object is not in the exact position to the first layer but the extruder begins the new layer with moving a little bit (about 0,5 mm) to the left. In result, we get products like the “tower of Pisa”. What`s the reason of this mistake?
J.Kramp

I had this problem aswell in the beginning, I have to say it is the most annoying part of the printer. Because it can take a while before you get it 100% right, but once you got it, you are very proud to yourself :wink:

The problem itself can have a few reasons (mine was both):

  1. one of your stepper drivers isn’t calibrated well on the mainboard. Check this page: manuals.velleman.eu/article.php?id=39
    Read it well, but mainly focus on the part on calibrating the stepper drivers. I had one that was only giving around 0,15 in stead of ± 0.9 Which is obviously way to low.

  2. This is the most annoying part, but you will have to do it. Your X and Y axis are not aligned well. It is a very time consuming process but it is absolutely needed. Don’t forget 1 step out of the entire wiki process you can find here: k8xxx-3dprinters.crimed.be/w … _Alignment
    What was also very important to me is using the right oil and use enough! Obviously not to much, but let’s say that you have to apply just that much so that there won’t be any dripping from the rods. The oil i’m using is Sewing Machine Oil which I ordered on Bol.com but you can also find it in your local sewing shop ofcourse.

I know that these processes will easily take you 2-4+ hours or even more. I had to do the x and y carriage alignment around 3 times before I had it right. So that together took me 3 long evenings.

I wish you and your class the best with fine tuning the printer!
btw, one last thing: Oil your rods with a few drips every 5 (long) prints orso, this will prevent giving you failed prints again.